Display units are widely used to display textual and graphic data to operators of complex systems such as aircraft. In order to display images on a display unit, in a typical embodiment, a “ping-pong” buffer memory is used by a graphics processing unit. When the graphics processing unit updates the image in the “ping” buffer, the “pong” buffer supplies the last completed image to the display unit. Once the image in the “ping” buffer is fully updated, the “pong” buffer swaps with the “ping” buffer and the “ping” buffer supplies the image to the display unit while the “pong” buffer is updated by the graphics processing unit.
This method becomes more difficult to accomplish when multiple graphical display units need to be supported by the same graphics processing unit. For example, if a graphics processing unit supports two display units instead of one display unit, roughly twice as much memory is required. Additionally, complexity arises if the graphics processing units need to support multiple display windows with different display rates displayed on a single display unit. In order to support multiple display windows, the data for each display window is copied from a back “ping” buffer to a front buffer which introduces delays rendering images as well as synchronization problems compared with the normal “ping/pong” embodiment.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a method and system for an external front buffer for a graphical system. Furthermore, the desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will be apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.